General Motors and Mercedes Benz are among the manufacturers of autos with devices using the twenty-four satellite Global Positioning System to detect the position of a vehicle. Tele Aid, the Mercedes system, is an emergency roadside call system. OnStar, GM's system, includes an emergency locator function as part of a more comprehensive set of benefits, including detecting a vehicle's location in case it is stolen or lost. The names could hardly be more different. The name Tele Aid looks and sounds essentially utilitarian, while OnStar promises high tech protection. How these names come to convey these messages is the main topic of this document. Mercedes Benz explains that Tele Aid stands for Telematic Alarm Identification on Demand. In this name, "Tele" comes from Telematic Services, the company that links the device to emergency centers. The acronym AID expresses the purpose of the system simply, while downplaying its technological innovativeness. The use of "aid" in the name, prosaic as it is, correctly positions the device as helping in emergencies, rather than, say, guiding the car on a given course — a function left to a different Mercedes device, the Auto Pilot System. Like Tele Aid, OnStar speaks rather quietly about truly astonishing features. But at the same time, OnStar is a very different name from Tele Aid. Tele Aid promises something a step or two above a first aid kit. What OnStar tempts us to envision is closer to a dream: a heavenly object that accompanies the vehicle as it travels. Images are created by names in a number of ways. Names can cast an object in a new light without leaving literal meanings far behind. Ray Ban's message, of preventing rays from penetrating the lens, is easily seen from the literal meanings of ray and ban. What makes the name exciting is the novel use of ban to describe the process. Before this brand existed, we had possibly encountered cases of people being banned and books being banned, but probably never before had rays been talked about as being banned. Images also arise through standard literary meaning-shifting devices like metaphor. The automotive battery DieHard uses metaphor to suggest that this battery is, like a human diehard, extremely loyal and persevering. Interestingly, the term's connotation of stubbornness when applied to humans actually becomes an advantage when applied to batteries. The devices for conveying images are not limited to these. Poets famously exploit the ability to derive images from word structure and from sound structure. In fact, these two devices have important roles to play in the effectiveness of the brands Ray Ban and DieHard. Both names consist of two high-frequency monosyllabic words of English, joined together into a compound word structure. In English compound words have a very direct feel. If we take the metaphor of stubborn, unstinting loyalty expressed by "diehard" and cast it into a different form with a different word structure and sound structure, the magic of this name will be lost. Sears will not have to worry, and probably will not sue, if someone else comes out with an auto battery called Loyalist, or Absolute Supporter. Obviously, DieHard owes much of its impact to its structure. Tele Aid and OnStar are both compounds, but when we compare their elements, important differences come out. Tele- is a prefix that originated in Greek but that is used in the names of familiar communication devices, the telephone and telegraph. The use of the word aid to mean a helper is familiar from regular expressions, like teacher's aid, and from other brand names, including Band-Aid. Both elements of Tele Aid lack mystique, and their combination has a clinical, colorless feel. The two vowels that collide at the juncture of the two words simply add to the impression that the esthetics of the name did not matter to those who, more or less literally, engineered it. OnStar, by contrast, has a poetic feel in both sound and meaning. OnStar's two elements each contain just one syllable and count among the highest recognition English words in the world. Despite their simplicity and commonness, these elements convey potent images—so tightly linked that no space is needed between the words. "On," delivers a cluster of meanings, as we can gather from expressions in which it appears: "switched on," "on target," "on top of the situation." "Star" depicts a presence in the sky that serves as a metaphor for the Global Positioning System, a romantic notion that at the same time calls up the advanced nature of the technology. GPS technology is being added to many other cars, with names including Jaguar Assist, Lexus Link, and Infiniti Communicator. Notice how lifeless these all sound. It would miss the point to say that they focus on the functional. The names are so bland that it would be more accurate to say that they lack a focus entirely. Jaguar Assist could just as easily refer to a stately add-on to the engine that adds horsepower when needed. Lexus Link could suggest a mailing list of Lexus owners' names. Lincoln's RESCU and BMW's Mayday systems emphasize the emergency purpose of the devices, but unlike OnStar they avoid reference to their sophisticated technology or to the peace of mind that results from having them. RESCU and Mayday could just as easily be very loud alarms that go off when a car is in dire trouble. The moral is clear. A name that communicates directly and transparently is not necessarily the best name. Imagery is a powerful force, even when it is as simple as applying the term ban in a novel way. If we deprive Ray Ban of its imagery, we will come up with something direct but lifeless, like Anti-Glare or Sun-Shade. Another lesson we learn from these cases is that imagery arises not only from words' meanings but also from their form. The simplicity of OnStar is reassuring, while the capital letters of RESCU are actually alarming. Names that are more expansive, more image-laden, do not surrender communicative value—they actually gain it. Because they fail to reflect this simple fact, most of the current GPS devices for cars fail to capture the promise that ought to be their most basic appeal. Back to Lingustic Profile page.